Ventilating cushion



Jan. 24, 1967 BLECHMAN 3,300,252

VENTILA'IING CUSHION Filed Dec. 27, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l :Cmim for i/ew Bleak man Jan. 24, 1967 G. BLECHMAN VENTILA'IING CUSHION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 27, 1965 FIG. 2

@i/berf Bled/m n United States Patent VENTILATING CUSHION Gilbert Blechman, 130 Sandringham Drive, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Dec. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 516,256 Claims priority, application Canada, Oct. 15, 1965,

13 Claims. (Cl. 297-453) This invention relates to a ventilating cushion.

The ventilating cushions customarily used are formed from layers of open mesh fabric. A frame is inserted between these layers of fabric to support a spring structure. Separate frames are used for the seat and back-rest portions of the cushion. The spring structure is generally a continuous coil spring which extends backwards and forwards between opposite sides of the frame and is looped over the frame. A second coil spring or a continuation of the first coil spring extends backwards and forwards between the other sides of the frame and intersects the first coil spring. A border binding ribbon is folded around the peripheral edges of the layers of fabric and is secured by one or more rows of stitches.

A disadvantage of the foregoing structure is that after an extended period of use, the fibres of the open mesh fabric tend to pull away from the stitches around the edge. Consequently, the cushion requires repair which may be difficult if the structure of the open mesh fabric around the edges has become frayed. The cushion may often have to be discarded because of this factor at a time when there has been little wear to the remainder of the cushion.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a ventilating cushion in which the foregoing disadvantage is largely overcome.

In accordance with this invention, a ventilating cushion of the type previously referred to, is provided with an outer coil spring which encircles the three sides of the wire frame other than the side adjacent to the hinge. This outer coil spring is contained within a sleeve formed by extending the fabric beyond the edge of the frame and providing spaced rows of stitches. The inner row of stitches defines the pocket which receives the frame and its associated intersecting springs. The second rows of stitches define a sleeve which receives the outer coil spring. This outer coil spring is thus located in the same plane as the intersecting spring structure. When the ventilating cushion is in use, the main wear and application of weight will be located in the central portions of each section. The consequent working of the structure will, however, be absorbed by the inner row or rows of stitches. These will be much better able to withstand such working as compared with stitches around the peripheral edge, both because the inner row of stitches is spaced well away from the edge of the fabric and in addition, a balancing of the strain on the inner edge of stitches is obtained due to the location on either side of it of a spring structure. There is in practice little strain on the outer row of stitches because the inner row of stitches tends to isolate it from the main effect of working during use. An additional advantage is that there is a slight saving of materials as compared with a ventilating cushion of the same size made by previously known methods in that there are no springs intersecting with the outer coil spring. A shorter length of spring is, therefore, required.

In the drawings which illustrate the preferred embodimerit of this invention.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of ventilating cushion in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view similar to FIGURE 1 but "'ice with the outer layer of fabric removed to reveal the spring structure.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view of line 3--3 of FIG URE 1.

In the drawings, a ventilating cushion is illustrated including a seat portion 10 hinged at 11 to a back-rest portion 12. The interconnected seat and back-rest portions are formed from an upper layer 13 of open mesh fabric and a lower layer 14 of open mesh fabric.

A spring structure 15 is provided for the back-rest portion and a similar but separate spring structure 16 is provided for the seat portion. Each of spring structures 15 and 16 is formed from a wire frame 17 which has four sides designated 17a, 17b, 17c and 17d respectively. Wire frame 17 is preferably undulating to provide inwardly extending anchorage portions to receive loops of the coil springs which will be referred to below. A plurality of coil spring sections 18 extend between opposite sides 17b and 17d of the wire frame and preferably are in the form of a continuous coil spring which extends in a zig-zag manner between such opposite sides. At the end of each section, the coil spring is looped over the side of the frame as indicated at 19. A plurality of coil spring sections 19 extend between opposite sides 17a and of the frame and intersect coil spring sections 18. Coil spring sections 19 are similar to coil spring sections 18 in that preferably they are continuous and at their ends, looped over the sides of the frame. Coil spring sections 18 and 19 can be separate or one may be a continuation of the other.

In the seat section, an outer coil spring 20 is spaced outwardly from and encircles the three sides of the wire frame other than the side 17c adjacent to the hinged connection.

The layers of open mesh fabric 13 and 14 are secured around their peripheral edge by a border binding ribbon 21. One or more rows of outer stitches 22 pass through border binding ribbon 21 and through layers 13 and 14. An inner binding ribbon 23 is located on the outer surface of fabric 13 and is spaced inwardly from border binding ribbon 21. Similarly, a binding ribbon 24 is located on the outer surface of fabric layer 14 and is opposite to binding ribbon 23. One or more rows of stitches 25 pass through binding ribbons 23 and 24 and fabric layers 13 and 14. The inner row of stitches thus provided defines a pocket indicated generally at 26 to receive frame 17 and its associated spring structure provided by springs 18 and 19. The rows of stitches 22 and 25, together with fabric between such rows, define an outer sleeve indicated generally at 27, to receive outer coil 20. Similarly, the back-rest portion 12 includes outer coil spring 28.

It will be noted that the ends of coil springs 20 and 28 are spaced from each other in the region of the hinge 11. The hinge is provided by rows of stitches 29 and 29a which are spaced to define between them a strip 30 of interconnected layers of fabric.

I claim:

1. A ventilating cushion comprisingly hingedly connected seat and back-rest portions at least one of said seat and back-rest portions comprising a four-sided wire frame one side of which is substantially parallel to its hinged connection, a first plurality of coil spring sections extending between a pair of opposite sides of said wire frame and anchored to said opposite sides, a second plurality of coil spring sections extending between and anchored to the other sides of said wire frame and intersecting the coil spring sections of said first plurality, an outer coil spring spaced outwardly of said frame and encircling the sides of said frame other than the side parallel to the hinged connection, said coil spring being in the same plane as the intersecting coil spring sections, upper and lower layers of open mesh fabric providing the front and back respectively of the cushion, a first connecting means joining the upper and lower layers of fabric adjacent to the sides of said wire frame to provide a pocket to receive said wire frame and associated intersecting spring sections, a second connecting means joining the upper and lower layers of fabric along the portions of the periphery of the fabric adjacent to the outer coil spring, said first and second connecting means and the fabric therebetween defining a sleeve to receive said outer coil.

2. A ventilating cushion as in claim 1 in which said spring sections extend continuously and in a zig-Zag manner between the sides of said wire frames and have loops at the ends thereof engaging the Wire frame.

3. A ventilating cushion as in claim 2 in which said wire frame undulates to provide inwardly indented anchorage portions to receive said loops.

4. A ventilating cushion as in claim 1, in which the first connecting means is at least one row of stitches.

5. A ventilating cushion as in claim 1, in which the first connecting means is a plurality of rows of stitches and in which binding ribbons are secured to the outer faces of said layers of fabric by said rows of stitches.

6. A ventilating cushion as in claim 1, in which the second connecting means is at least one row of stitches.

7. A ventilating cushion as in claim 1, in which the second connecting means is at least one row of stitches and in which a border binding ribbon is folded to overlap the outer edges of said layers of fabric, said border binding ribbon being secured by said row of stitches.

8. A ventilating cushion in which both the seat and back-rest portions have the structure defined by claim 1, and in which a plurality of layers of stitches extending substantially parallel to said one side of the wire frame defines a strip of interconnected layers of fabric which provides a hinged connection between the seat and backrest portions.

9. A ventilating cushion comprising hinged seat and back-rest portions each of which comprise an inner pocket and an outer sleeve encircling at least part of the margin of said inner pocket a spring structure including a plurality of coplanar coil springs received within said inner pocket and a coil spring within said outer sleeve and coplanar with said coil spring, said pocket and sleeve being composed of layers of open mesh fabric connected by rows of stitching, one row of stitches being at the periphery of said layers of fabric and the other row of stitches being spaced inwardly from said one row to form said sleeve, said coil spring within the outer sleeve and said other row of stitches acting to relieve strains on said one row of stitches.

10. A ventilating cushion as in claim 9 in which said outer sleeve and coil spring therein encircle substantially the entire periphery of the ventilating cushion.

11. A ventilating cushion as in claim 10 in which said coil spring is in two sections, one encircling the periphery of the seat portion and the other encircling the periphery of the back-rest portion, the ends of said sections being spaced from each other at the hinge between the seat portion and the back-rest portion.

12. A ventilating cushion comprising upper and lower layers of fabric, a row of stitches along the peripheral edge of said layers of fabric interconnecting said layers of fabric, a second row of stitches substantially parallel to the first-mentioned row of stitches, said second row of stitches joining said layers of fabric together and providing a sleeve between the first and second rows of stitches, having a spring structure including a wire frame and a plurality of intersecting coplanar coil springs connected between the sides of said frame located between said layers of fabric with sides of said frame being adjacent to and substantially parallel to the second row of stitches and an outer coil spring coplanar with said intersecting coil springs and located in said sleeve.

13. A ventilating cushion, as in claim 12, in which binding ribbons are secured to said fabric by both of said rows of stitches.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,541,212 6/1925 Harley 5347 2,738,835 3/1956 Eames 297456 2,801,681 8/1957 Crane 297-453 2,804,912 9/1957 Pickard 5-347 3,063,753 11/1962 Mitchell 297453 3,066,435 12/1962 Oddo et a1 297461 X 3,162,489 12/1964 Trotman 297453 3,237,216 3/1966 Blechrnan 5-347 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A VENTILATING CUSHION COMPRISINGLY HINGEDLY CONNECTED SEAT AND BACK-REST PORTIONS AT LEAST ONE OF SAID SEAT AND BACK-REST PORTIONS COMPRISING A FOUR-SIDED WIRE FRAME ONE SIDE OF WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO ITS HINGED CONNECTION, A FIRST PLURALITY OF COIL SPRING SECTIONS EXTENDING BETWEEN A PAIR OF OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID WIRE FRAME AND ANCHORED TO SAID OPPOSITE SIDES, A SECOND PLURALITY OF COIL SPRING SECTIONS EXTENDING BETWEEN AND ANCHORED TO THE OTHER SIDES OF SAID WIRE FRAME AND INTERSECTING THE COIL SPRING SECTIONS OF SAID FIRST PLURALITY, AN OUTER COIL SPRING SPACED OUTWARDLY OF SAID FRAME AND ENCIRCLING THE SIDES OF SAID FRAME OTHER THAN THE SIDE PARALLEL TO THE HINGED CONNECTION, SAID COIL SPRING BEING IN THE SAME PLANE AS THE INTERSECTING COIL SPRING SECTIONS, UPPER AND LOWER LAYERS OF OPEN MESH FABRIC PROVIDING THE FRONT AND BACK RESPECTIVELY OF THE CUSHION, A FIRST CONNECTING MEANS JOINING THE UPPER AND LOWER LAYERS OF FABRIC ADJACENT TO THE SIDES OF SAID WIRE FRAME TO PROVIDE A POCKET TO RECEIVE SAID WIRE FRAME AND ASSOCIATED INTERSECTING SPRING SECTIONS, A SECOND CONNECTING MEANS JOINING THE UPPER AND LOWER LAYERS OF FABRIC ALONG THE PORTIONS OF THE PERIPHERY OF THE FABRIC ADJACENT TO THE OUTER COIL SPRING, SAID FIRST AND SECOND CONNECTING MEANS AND THE FABRIC THEREBETWEEN DEFINING A SLEEVE TO RECEIVE SAID OUTER COIL. 